"I was, but many
events happened after that which altered the prospect; made it even more
gloomy than you can well imagine: but I will tell you all candidly, and
you can keep watch upon Bannerworth Hall at the same time. You are well
aware that I was well to do, and had ample funds, and inclination to
spend them."--"I recollect: but you were married then, surely?"--"I
was," said the stranger, sadly, "I was married then."--"And now?"--"I am
a widower." The stranger seemed much moved, but, after a moment or so,
he resumed--"I am a widower now; but how that event came about is partly
my purpose to tell you. I had not married long--that is very long--for I
have but one child, and she is not old, or of an age to know much more
than what she may be taught; she is still in the course of education. I
was early addicted to gamble; the dice had its charms, as all those who
have ever engaged in play but too well know; it is perfectly
fascinating."--"So I have heard," said Mr. Chillingworth; "though, for
myself, I found a wife and professional pursuits quite incompatible with
any pleasure that took either time or resources."--

"It is so. I would I had never entered one of those houses where men are
deprived of their money and their own free will, for at the
gambling-table you have no liberty, save that in gliding down the stream
in company with others. How few have ever escaped destruction--none, I
believe--men are perfectly fascinated; it is ruin alone that enables a
man to see how he has been hurried onwards without thought or
reflection; and how fallacious were all the hopes he ever entertained!
Yes, ruin, and ruin alone, can do this; but, alas! 'tis then too
late--the evil is done. Soon after my marriage I fell in with a
Chevalier St. John. He was a man of the world in every sense of the
word, and one that was well versed in all the ways of society. I never
met with any man who was so perfectly master of himself, and of perfect
ease and self-confidence as he was. He was never at a loss, and, come
what would, never betrayed surprise or vexation--two qualities, he
thought, never ought to be shown by any man who moved in society."--

"Indeed!"--"He was a strange man--a very strange man."--

"Did he gamble?"--

"It is difficult to give you a correct and direct answer. I should say
he did, and yet he never lost or won much; but I have often thought he
was more connected with those who did than was believed."--

"Was that a fac